tatum



J. H. TATEM. BRUSIL PATENTED MAY 11, 1858.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

J. H. TATUM, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

BRUSH.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 20,226, dated May 11, 1858.

To all whom itmay concern:

Be it known that I, J. H. TATUM, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in the Construction of Brushes; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawing, making a part of this specification, said drawing being a longitudinal vertical section of a brush constructed according to my invention.

This invention consists in having the back of the brush in which the bristles are secured formed of a thin metal plate, the bristles being secured in said plate detached from each other and at equal distances apart as hereinafter fully shown and described.

The object of this invention is to obtain a brush that can be readily cleaned, one that will not absorb grease nor be affected in any way by moisture, and hence be extremely durable, and at the same time not exceed in the cost of construction the ordinary brushes in use.

To enable those skilled in the art to fully understand and construct my invention I will proceed to describe it.

A, represents the back of the brush, which is formed of a thin metal plate and B, represents the bristles which are separately secured in said plate at suitable and equal distances apart.

The plate A, may be formed of any suitable metal and the brush may be constructed in different ways, so as to obtain the same result; one way as follows. The plate A, may be cast or, rolled out of a suitable thickness cut or formed superficially of the requisite dimensions and then perforated by any proper means so as to form holes to allow the ends of the bristles to pass through. The bristles may then be secured in the plate either by singeing their ends which are allowed to project a short distance above the plate or by applying a proper cement C, over said ends.

In the drawing the cement is shown in red.

The brush may be constructed in another way by having the bristles B, fitted in a mold or stock so as to be secured in a proper relative position with each other, the upper ends of the bristles projecting a short distance above the surface of the mold and then pouring melted metal over the surface of the mold or stock, the metal when cool forming the back. In this mode as well as the for mer the upper ends of the bristles should project through the plate so that they may be singed or covered with cement.

The plate A, should not be so thick as to render the back unnecessarily heavy, quite a thin plate may be used. The plate A, may be covered with a thin sheet metal cover having a suitable handle attached.

Brushes constructed according to the within described invention would be extremely durable; they of course would not be affected by moisture, neither can they absorb grease. Hair brushes for instance are frequently moistened when used, and grease being very generally used on the hair, the usual wooden backed brushes soon become saturated with it and become foul. It is almost impossible to keep the wooden backed brushes perfectly clean, the absorbent wood seems to serve as a fountain or reservoir of various substances used on the hair and which keep the brush foul. Another advantage of my improvement is that the brush may be readily cleaned as the bristles are detached from each other, there are no places where dirt can lodge. Whereas in the ordinary brushes, the bristles are bunched and placed or fitted in the back, each brush forming in a short time, a fountain or reservoir of dirt, rendering the perfect cleaning them almost impossible.

Brushes may be constructed according to my invention equally as cheap as the ordinary kind, and the invention is applicable to all kinds of brushes in which bristles are used. Cylindrical machine brushes may be constructed according to my invention with the greatest facility as the plates with the bristles secured in them may be bent around cylinders and readily secured to them.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is The brush constructed as herein shown and described so as to form a new and useful article of manufacture, to wit, having the bristles B secured in detached positions in a metal plate A, which forms the back of the brush.

JOEL HAYWOOD TATUM.

WVitnesses:

J. W. CooMBs, M. HUGHES. 

